Wood's Pit BBQ and Mexican Cafe

Wood's Pit BBQ and Mexican Cafe

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Yesterday, while taking a leisurely tour from Farmington, Ct. through the Berkshires , headed for Rt 55 and Webatuck in NY State, we chanced upon "Wood's Pit BBQ and Mexican Cafe" on Bantam Lake Road in Bantam Ct. Don't let the name turn you off - this place is excellent for BBQ ribs. And based on the ribs, which is all we had, I'd bet all the rest of the extensive menu - including some crossover items combining traditional pulled pork with enchiladas and chimichangas and such - is every bit as good. This place is worth a 50 mile detour.

The ribs were meaty, juicy, tender, and falling-off-the-bone delicious and with a dark bark under the subtly smoky spicy sweetish sauce. We had small sides of baked beans and cole slaw - both OK but ordinary.

Wood's is a small old frame house close by the road with limited parking (only small cars and bikes can park out front - it's that close to the road). The interior consists of two small rooms - a dark and busy bar seating maybe a dozen customers and a small dining room with a few booths and tables perhaps seating up to 25 customers. It is kind of dingy but clean and redolent with BBQ smoke. The restrooms are a bit dated but they are spotless.

They were very busy while we were there with families out for Father's Day lunches - never-the-less the service was friendly informative and efficient . We didn't ask, but we thought the whole operation is run by the family - seemed like a Mom and Pop and the Daughters kind of relationship. We did learn that they've been there for at least 15 years - so that has to say something for the quality of the joint.

After we left Wood's we drove thru the Litchfield hills and into NYState where we soon were in Wingdale, home the the justly famous "Big W" BBQ. Full of BBQ already, we, sadly, had to drive right on by.

I was going to hold this post until Gail learns to post photos, but I don't know when that's going to happen, and there's no way I'll ever be able to learn that trick - let alone even learn how to take a decent photo...

Wingdale. When I was a little boy (no, I'm not talking about before the War of Revolution) and lived in Pawling we had a maid who either was then a patient at what I think was the "insane asylum" in Wingdale, or had just been released. It was quite some time ago, so I can't recall a lot about it. Am I correct about Wingdale being where there was a state mental hospital?

Wassaic State Hospital, long abandoned, adorns the east side of Rts 22/55 at Wingdale. It was, as we so elegantly termed it, "The Bug House". As a hospital it did distressingly few cures and was mainly a place to park unwanted family members and the mildly troublesome members of society. Some 'inmates" were considered healthy enough to be allowed to do day work outside the confines of the joint.

A speculator bought the property from the State a few years ago and has, from time to time, announced grandiose plans for its re-development. In fact, this Sunday's Poughkeepsie Journal had another front page story about how it will be developed - you betcha!!

Well, at least the place was able to serve as affordable housing for the servants of the likes of Lowell Thomas, Norman Vincent Peale, Governor Tom Dewey, the famously super-rich Hoffmans, and other well-to-do New Yorkers living in Pawling, which is still a charming wealthy Republican community to this day.